WIBU - Facebook selling etiquette

[Andromeida29]

Hello, hooe you can help as I'm utterly confused. I placed an item of furniture for sale on Facebook Marketplace that needed a quick sale due to us starting decorating.

One buyer messaged me saying she wanted it, I messaged back asking when she could pick it up. She didn't respond for two hours. During that time I had literally dozens of messages and I sold the item.

She messaged me two hours later saying she could pick up but I didn't see this message. She then privately messaged me this morning to ask about the item, I replied that I'd sold it. She then posts on a public forum about why I'd sold it and then messaged me privately. I explained that I'd had lots of requests and it seemed unfair to hold it as she hadn't confirmed that she wanted to buy it. She has sent me a few really arsey messages. Who is being unreasonable?

If you can't post within 24 hours you should let the buyer know!

24 hours?! Even eBay gives you 48 hours to post.

I think you were being a little unreasonable but only a little and her overreaction was far worse.

So all she actually asked was “is this available” which is the stupid auto text anyway? Surely you’d never sell anything on FB if that was a firm offer to buy and you couldn’t sell to anyone else for a day after that or something?
I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong

A good rule is only reply to public messages on the item and no pms that way you can rule out being scammed by timewasters. going public means most of the time someone will point out a timewaster (and its not hard to follow up and see they were right) Also mention its first come first served or will be sold to first person to collect.

You’re under no obligation to sell to the first person who contacts you

You're not unreasonable. Plenty of people send that generic msg 'is it available?' then never write back. I do tend to prioritise people based on the order they contact me but i wont hold an item/don't consider it sold unless someone confirms when they would like to pick it up.